Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-23

coil of the 100 FOUNDER, while all the gun
ners, according to command, stood OF
tiptoe with mouth wide open, lest The
conclusion shatter hearing or brain. HI
J remembers it all better than you remem
! Der 1t, and in some shape reward will bt
! given. God is the best of all paymssters
and for those who do their whole duty u
Him and the world the pension awarded
IS everlasting heaven.
Sometimes off the coast of England the
royal family have inspected the B ltist
navy man9uvred before them for thai
purpose. In the Baltic sea the Car anC
CZarins have reviewed the Russian navy
To bring before the American peop3 the
/ debt they owe to the navy, 60 out with
you on the Atlantic ocean where there is
plenty of room, and in imagination "ieW
the war shipping of our three grea con
ficts-I776, 1912 and 1865. Swing
into line all We frigetes,
! ironclads, fire rats, gunboats,
and men of war! There they come,
all sails set and all furnaces in full blast,
sheaves of crystal tossing from their
cutting prows. That is the Delaware, an
old Revolutionary craft, commanded by
Commodore Decatur. Yonder goes the
Constitution, Commodore Hull com
handing There is the Chesapeake,
commanded by Captain Lawrence, whose
! dying words were: "Don't give up the
Ship" and the Niagara, of 1872, COM
manded by Commodore Perry, who wrote
on the back of an old letter, resting on
his navy cap: "We have met the enemy
and they are ours" Yonder is the flag
ship Wabash, Admiral Dupont command
ing; yonder, the flagship Minnesota, Adj
miral GoldsborOugh commanding; yOn-
der, the flagship Philadelphia, Admiral
Dahlgren commanding; yonder, the
flagship San Jacinto, Admiral Bailey com
manding; yonder, the flagship Black
Hawk, Admiral Porter commanding
yonder, the flag steamer Benton, Admiral
FOote commanding; Yonder, the flagship
Hartford, David Glascoe Farragut com
handing. And now all the squsdrons
of all departments, from smallest tug
boat to mightiest man-Of-waT, are in pro-
cession, decks ard rigging filed with The
men who fought on the sea for the old
flag ever since we were nation. Gcand-
est feet the world ever saw. Sail or be-
fore all agesI Run up all the Coiors
Ring all the BELLS Yea, open al the
portfolios! Uniimber the guns and load
and fire one great broadside that shall
shake the continents in honor Of peace
and the eternity of
THE AMERICAN UNION
But lift my hard, and the scene has
vanished. Many of the ships have dropped
under the crystal pavement of the deep,
sea monsters swimming in and out the
tOrssken cabin, and other old craft have
swung into the navy yards, and many of
the brave spirits who trod their decks are
gone up TO the Eternal Fortress, from
whose easements and embrasures may we
not hope they look down to-day with Joy
upon nation in reunited brotherhood?
At this annual Commemoration l be-
think that most of you who were in the
naval service during our late war are
now in the afternoon or evening of life.
With some of you it is ? o'clock, 3
O'Clock, O'Clock, 6 O'Clock, and it will
soon be sundOwn. If you were Of age
when he war broke out you are now at
least fOrty-eight. Many of you have
passed into the sixties and the seventies;
therefore it is appropriate that l hold two
great lights for your illuminatiOn-the
example of Christian admirals conse-
Grated to Christ and their country, Ad-
mirsl FOOte and Admiral Farragut. Had
the Christian religion been q COwerdly
thing they would have had nothing to do
with it. In its faith they lived and died. In
our Brooklyn navy yard Admiral Foote
held prayer meetings and con-
Quoted g revival on the receiving
ship North Carolina, and on Sab
baths, far out at sea, followed the chap
lain with religious exhortation. In early
life on board the sloop of war Natchez,
impressed by the words OF a Christian
sailor, he gave his spare time for two
weeks to the Bible, and at the end of that
declared openly: "Henceforth, under all
circumstances, will act for God" His
last words, while dying at the Aston
House, New York, were: 81 thank God
for all His goodness to me. He has been
very good to me " When he entered
heaven he did not have to run blockade,
for it was amid the cheers of g great vel
come. The other Christian admiral will
be honored until the day when the fires
from above shall lick up the waters from
beneath and there shall be no more sea.
"Oh, while old oceans breast
Bears white sail,
And Gods soft stars 20 rest
Guide through the gale,
Men will him ne'er forget
Old heart of oak,
Farragut, Faragut
Thunderbolt strokew
According to his own statement, Farrs-
gut was very loose in his morals in early
manhood and practiced all kinds of sin.
One day he was called into the cabin of
his father, who was q shipmaster. His
father said: "DRvid, what are you going
to be, anyhow" "He answered: 81 am
going to follow the sea-" "Follow the
sea- said the father, "and be kicked
about the world and die in foreign hos
pitsl?" "No," said David" 81 am GO
ing to command like you" NO." said
the father, ga boy of your habits will never
command anything" and his father burst
into tears and left the cabin. From that
day David FsrTagut
STARTED ON A NEW LIFE.
Captain Pennington, an honored elder
of this church, was with him in most
of his battles and had his init
mate friendship, and he confirms, what
had heard elsewhere, that Farragut was
good and Christian. In every great
crisis of life he asked and obtained the
Divine direction. When in Mobile bay
the monitor TeCumseh sank from tor
pedo and the great wsTsnip Brooklyn
that was to lead the squadron turned
back, he said he was at loss to know
whether to advance or TO retreat, and he
saws; 81 PRAYED, 'Oh, God, who created